The Londoners will pay Adebayor a £5m signing-on fee and have been asking City to subsidise the Togo international striker’s wages, with the Premier League champions desperate to offload the former Arsenal man to free up wages and space in their squad.

Spurs chairman Daniel Levy has held talks with Adebayor’s representatives in the United States and believes a deal is finally close to completion following the 28-year-old’s season-long loan at White Hart Lane.

Andre Villas-Boas, the Tottenham manager, has been pushing club bosses to clinch the deal as he looks to improve his strikeforce by signing two forwards this summer, with Jermain Defoe the only senior striker currently in the Spurs squad.

Adebayor returned to training at City’s Carrington training ground earlier this month before taking a break as he waited for his move to Spurs, having turned down the prospect of a move to Russian side Lokomotiv Moscow.